Announcement: Eastward Bound

 
For the past three years some of my devotional pieces have shown up about once a month on the website, ChristianDevotions.us. Then more recently on a blog called Love Lines from God. Please be encouraged to check these publications out. I'm sure you'll be blessed by what is shared there. Also keep an eye out for another blog that I'll be participating in called "VineWords" after the first of the new year. 

This year our women's ministry deacon at church invited me to share some devotional thoughts in a newsletter going out occasionally to the women, and I was delighted to do so. 

I'd like to put the last one I wrote here on my blog as a way to announce the change we are approaching as of the end of October. So here goes:

How Does Your Garden Grow?

"The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." (Isaiah 58:11 NIV)

How I admire people with gardening skills. Although both my parents were garden-minded, that gene did not get handed down to me. Every summer Dad set up his garden in well-fertilized soil by the barn. Corn, potatoes, and maybe some pole beans grew in abundance. On the east side of the house Mom's efforts produced gladiolas, chrysanthemums, and irises balanced with rows of carrots, peas, leaf lettuce, and a patch of squash. Sadly when asked to pull weeds, I couldn't even distinguish weeds from carrots.

Isn't it wonderful that God compares His people to a well-watered garden? Similar to the lushness of those summer gardens of my childhood, what the Lord plants in us and nurtures brings results that cannot be mistaken. 

When I encountered Isaiah's prophetic statement in my prayer journal recently as the verse for the week's reflection, it settled in my heart just when I needed it.

You see, after much consideration, prayer, and discussion over the past couple of years, my husband and I have made the decision to move to Idaho. My emotions are like a rollercoaster. I love being in Washington state. It's my home, where my roots are. But in all practicality we need to be in a place where the cost of living is lower. Fortunately we have family already living in the Boise area that own rental properties; we have been offered access to one of them. While dragging my heels through the dirt a bit, I'm recognizing this is God's way of meeting our needs. 

Still my tears have spurted like a water hose with holes at the thought of being at a distance from my children and grandchildren that live here in Washington. What reassurance to know that God is fully capable of tending each one of us in whatever soil He plants us, and bringing about amazing results. I'm starting to look forward to what He'll grow in me in Idaho.

Think about the beauty God is growing in your garden.

Find Friends

This is the devotional I wrote and shared with my writing group this past Saturday:

“I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth! He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps. The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night. The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.” (Psalm 121, NLT)

When we last saw our heroine, she was lost in a maze of moving boxes. Two months later and she has emerged, grateful for the destination God has provided. For her and her hero, being in their castle together after living in two separate realms, is most satisfying.

Our new neighborhood

Hey, in the middle of this move, we weren’t sure where we were going to be, or even when. The apartment application process took more time than usual due to needing various work and wage confirmations so we weren’t expecting to be able to get into it until after Christmas, if at all. Then suddenly things fell into place and we could move in before Christmas! It meant a bit of a scramble but were we ever grateful when after days of rain, the morning broke bright and sunny on December 23rd, our moving day. We were even more grateful we weren’t moving after Christmas when Whatcom County was in the throes of Icemageddon!

Moving Day! Snow on the ground but blue sky above!

Being in Bonney Lake made celebrating Christmas in Enumclaw with some of our kids so much easier. Only a half hour drive instead of three hours. Our friends that my husband was staying with for three months, were having family come for Christmas so the bed he vacated was much appreciated. Our friends had surgeries scheduled for January as well so I think it’s a relief for them to be without an extra boarder as they recover. 

My husband’s job involves him going out on sales calls to home owners that could be anywhere in Washington state. He is given his list of appointments via email first thing in the morning. There isn’t time for him to share them with me but we recently learned how to use a particular app on our iPhones. It’s called “Find Friends”. So at any time of the day I can tap on that app and see where he’s located. At least as long as there is a cell tower near him. There’ve been a few times when all I get is “Location cannot be found.” The first time that happened I kind of freaked out. My lucky sister was the one who got the slightly panicky P.M. from me to, “Please pray.” My imagination had me picturing a car-jacking, or a home invasion and his phone being destroyed. Now that I know sometimes service is interrupted and that he’ll show up on the app eventually, I’m all c’est la vie. 

This move has been an exercise in patience and trusting God to show us one step at a time. He had His eye on every tidbit of the process, He oversaw the apartment application, the missing employment verification forms, our friends’ surgery schedule, and the weather! And because the Lord Himself watches over us, He doesn’t need a Find Friends app!

Opening the Shell

Here we are, approaching the halfway mark for 2016. It seems like just yesterday I was opening up Hearing His Voice by Chris Tiegreen, the new devotional book I’d chosen to peruse for the year, fitting as it did with the sense that God was calling me to listen more for His voice. In my own journal I’ve scribbled down impressions on my heart initiated by the daily readings. If you’ll have me, I’d like to share some of those with you, a little at a time. Maybe they will resonate with you. 

God already knows me down to the very nucleus of every cell in my body and all the vastness of my soul. After all, He created this shell of mine and breathed life into me and then redeemed me. He is not only aware of me, He is deeply interested in me. This sixty-two year old woman who still has doubts about so many things, who feels scattered in her thoughts and beliefs, who isn’t consistent with her habits (the “good” habits anyway), who gets irritated with herself and others.

Yes, His interest in me is personal and intense. I want to turn my attention to Him and become deeply interested in Him. Not just stories about Him, but in Who He is and what He has to say to me. I do believe He speaks and I am opening up to hear Him.